Comments 342

Re: Nintendo President Says Switch Production Is "Uncertain" Next Year

BoilerBroJoe

I think this idea that the Switch Pro is “dead” and that the Switch 2 will instead arrive in 2024 or 2025 is actually much less realistic. (For the record, let’s define a Switch Pro as hardware that primarily plays backwards compatible games, with maybe a dozen exceptions if any, and a Switch 2 as hardware that has a steady stream of games that only work on that system). A Switch 2, while maybe backwards compatible, would really be the thing that divides a user base, not a more powerful Switch. It’s precisely the fact that Switch is selling so well that I think a Switch Pro in the next year or two is way more likely and a Switch 2 won’t happen until 2027 at the earliest.

Am I crazy or did they not basically say this in the first few months of the Switch release? That they saw this as being an iterative console with at least a ten year lifecycle? People’s obsession with the Switch Pro didn’t just come from nowhere. I think it was actually intended to come earlier and COVID/chip shortages delayed it. And I think that it may very well continue to get delayed, but I still have no qualms about the idea that it’s coming.

Re: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion Is Apparently Much More Than A Remaster, But Not A "Complete Remake"

BoilerBroJoe

I have a feeling this is going to become a gold dress blue dress situation, but to me this is clearly a remake. When you remaster a film or an album, you go back to the original master recordings and re-scan, re-mix, etc. It's not a perfect correlation, but I've always considered a game remaster to be something that involves going back to original assets and reworking them. I'll grant that you may use new textures, tweak physics or even record new music and effects, but there really needs to be some elements from the original there besides the story and gameplay. Once they say they are designing the 3D models "from scratch" that becomes a remake to me.

Re: Random: GQ Calls Video Game Patches "Laziness", And People Are Not Impressed

BoilerBroJoe

Mismanagement = lazy administrators.
Rushed deadlines = lazy time management.
Understaffing = lazy hiring practices
Layoffs = lazy cost-cutting
Mistreatment of part-time and contract workers = lazy people skills.
etc.

I can understand someone preferring the word "greedy" to lazy in these instances. I may, myself. But I have no real objection to using the word lazy to describe capitalists. Lazy has only become a shaming word because we apply it almost exclusively to the producers of value when they don't produce that value exactly to our liking. On the other hand, I feel it's entirely appropriate when we use it to describe a culture of management and ownership that's become defined by inertia in every meaningful respect.

Re: Video: What Was Your First Video Game Ever?

BoilerBroJoe

It was most likely Super Mario Bros. since that was the NES pack-in and game everyone was crazy about at the time. But I also remember playing Major League Baseball (and being bored to tears by the endless blue stat screens you would need to navigate before getting to the less monochrome baseball game).

Re: Random: Witness The Star Trek DS9 Intro In Glorious 64-Bit, Zelda: Ocarina Of Time Style

BoilerBroJoe

@Kang81 Strange New Worlds is the only one I’ve liked since 2009. And even with that show I need to tell myself it’s a remake, not a prequel (despite what the creators claim). If I do that, I’m able to enjoy the stories and tone for the most part.

That said, the most recent episode soured me considerably, for a number of reasons. So the jury is back out, but overall it’s been an improvement so far.

Re: Random: Witness The Star Trek DS9 Intro In Glorious 64-Bit, Zelda: Ocarina Of Time Style

BoilerBroJoe

@RantingThespian I agree - as a kid I assumed each series would get at least a couple movies. It's really a shame they didn't. Think of the kind of cinematic universe they could have built with those three shows, ten years before Avengers.

I also don't understand why they don't put DS9 on blu-ray. I know about the whole compositing problem, but at least re-scan the original scenes that lacked special effects, and then upscale the rest, like they did with Babylon 5. A visually uneven release would still be better than no release at all, in my opinion.

Re: Monkey Island's Creator Seemingly Shuts Down Blog After Personal Attacks

BoilerBroJoe

This is why I kinda think comment sections need to largely go the way of the dodo (and I’m fully aware of where I’m writing this). They’re appropriate for some things, but not every place of information needs to allow anonymous commentary by the public. I’m sure there are plenty of corporate advertising teams out there that insist on maximizing “audience engagement”, but if it’s going to result in the whole affair being stopped (or even just unhealthy levels of stress for those producing the content) then what’s the point?

People absolutely should behave better, but us saying what ought to be so is not going to make it so. This will never stop, outside of a post-scarcity utopia where everyone is content enough not to project their lack of fulfillment on to trivial matters. And even then I’m not so sure. Just get rid of comment sections. And Twitter while we’re at it.

P.S. Yes, all my best to the Monkey Island team. I’ve never even played the games and I’m still excited to try this new one.

Re: Nintendo Direct Mini To Air Tomorrow, June 28

BoilerBroJoe

As I said in another chat, when there's an E3 Nintendo does a full Direct and showcase in June. When there isn't it doesn't. 2020 E3 was canceled and Nintendo did several game specific and mini Directs. The same thing is happening this year.

I still think we will get something in the near future, because they're due to announce the new Mario Kart courses. But at this point it will probably be mid July at the earliest, and they could even just announce those courses in a video tweet.

Re: Yuji Naka Is Shocked That Michael Jackson's Music Is Missing In Sonic Origins

BoilerBroJoe

I'm assuming it's just a matter of Sega and the Jackson estate being able to agree on a licensing fee in the past and not being able to in this instance. I mean, they should have seen this coming, collaborating with the most popular artist of the era and not having a rock solid contract. But I guess the idea of constantly re-releasing classic games, or even of "classic games" in general, wasn't really a thing in the early 90s.

Re: "What Do I Care?" - Nintendo Hacking Mastermind Defiant As Colleague Bowser Is Jailed

BoilerBroJoe

@Danrenfroe2016 As I said above, I think there are plenty of punishments we can use that don’t involve locking someone up. Of course the argument can always be pushed to “well what if they don’t pay their fine/show up for community service/etc.?” but it’s not like we’re all perfectly self sufficient creatures that don’t interact with a highly complex society in a variety of ways. If people continue to defy laws you can freeze their accounts, flag their travel documents and so on. Of course every rule has an exception and I’m sure there is some hypothetical where someone who’s not violent will need to be detained or jailed, but I think we could be more creative and deal with 99% of offenders out there. The point is we don’t try. We just fetishize prison as a punishment for people we are angry at, and sadly that leaves a lot of people hurt for doing a lot less than this guy.

Re: "What Do I Care?" - Nintendo Hacking Mastermind Defiant As Colleague Bowser Is Jailed

BoilerBroJoe

I’ve never supported prison time for non violent crimes and I’m not going to start now. This guy is clearly a jerk and certainly no Robin Hood, but like Gary Bowser, he can be dealt with using economic punishments; fines, sanctions, community service, etc. Part of the reason our societies are so sick is because we’re so profoundly uncreative in solving problems using anything that’s not physical coercion.

Re: Summer Game Fest Publisher List And Details Announced, Nintendo Apparently Not Featuring

BoilerBroJoe

Question: why is it a certainty that a Nintendo Direct will happen around that time? When E3 was canceled in 2020, Nintendo didn’t have a proper Direct until August. I get that was peak COVID, but it didn’t stop other companies from putting out news or Nintendo from doing mini single-game-focused Directs. Nintendo did have a Direct last June but that was in the context of a digital E3. So it seems that this year actually has more in common with 2020 than 2021.

Of course I HOPE Nintendo has a Direct soon, and I think it’s entirely possible. But just not sure why people think it’s so certain.

Re: Random: France Bans Gaming Terms Like 'eSports' To Maintain Language Purity

BoilerBroJoe

Every single word any of us speaks is a borrowed/stolen/butchered word from a different language. I'm all for preserving linguistic diversity, but there's a difference between a language at risk of extinction and the natural evolution that every language undergoes. For example, let's take the phrase quoted above, "'jeu video en nuage". Are any of the words in that phrase currently at risk of being forgotten? French is one of the most spoken (and most learned) languages in the world, and those words will be well known to many millions for many more years to come. What these rules are about is exclusivity, not preservation. And I oppose exclusivity precisely because of the importance of linguistic diversity. Some scientists, I believe, have theorized that using words from different languages actually allow you to *conceive of things you'd be unable to with just one language, so borrowed words actually serve to expand one's capacity for expression and nuance.

Now yes, the government is welcome to have standards in its own official material, and I'm not suggesting that this is some violation of civil liberties. But official actions such as these set a tone and are meant to bleed down into mass discourse, so it's totally fair to criticize them.

Re: Nintendo Is Offering Free Trials For Switch Online, Even If You've Used One Before (North America)

BoilerBroJoe

@FishyS another weirdo here. I agree cloud saving is essential which is why I wish they offered it for free. I may grab this free trial or pay for a month at some point down the line to update my cloud saves, but I don’t play anything online except occasionally the free games like Fortnite.

As for the retro games, maybe it’s just psychological, but I can’t bring myself to put time into playing anything that I may not have access to a few years down the line. I get all the arguments for a subscription service and I actually think it’s good for them to have it as an option for those who want it, but I wish they’d also let you buy the games and honor that purchase going forward as a company, rather than as a platform, the way Steam does. If they did that they’d have more of my money than either of us could imagine.

Re: SNES Platforming Shooter 'Jim Power: The Lost Dimension' Returns On Switch

BoilerBroJoe

Shame that the 3DS is shutting down and can't re-implement the retro 3D effects back into the game. Are we just relegating 3D to the dustbin of history? Is there a reason Nintendo can't release a Switch with a 3D screen? I get that it's not everyone's thing, but I feel like we only ever scratched the surface of that market. Those Sega 3D Classics were beautiful and the New 3DS tech worked really well IMO.

Re: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge Hones In On Summer Release

BoilerBroJoe

I know not everyone likes it, but I adored DuckTales Remastered for bringing back the old voice cast too (and not a moment too soon, as Alan Young died only a few years later), so I'm really happy to see it happening again. Let's get some TaleSpin and Darkwing Duck games, Dotemu! Or better yet, Gargoyles!

Between them and WayForward, old franchises are getting a lot of love lately. And didn't WayForward recently tease a bunch of impressive IP they got their hands on?

Re: Random: It's Official, Jean-Luc Picard Killed Yoshi In The Dark Timeline

BoilerBroJoe

I understand/respect that some people like Star Trek for different reasons than I do, and I also understand that this is the “dark” timeline (where did they come from, the “slightly-less-dark” timeline?). But for me at least, the dissonance of the two statements “Star Trek fans have arguably never had it better” and “Jean-Luc Picard killed Yoshi” pretty much sums it up.

Re: Namco's Dragon Spirit Is Coming To Arcade Archives On Switch

BoilerBroJoe

@Tandy255 That's fair, but I'm sorta of getting tired of all the different game collections with all the different menus, and user interfaces and features. That's what made Virtual Console so good (and it would make NSO pretty great too, if you could actually buy the games). That said, I'm all for offering games in big bundles as well as individually.

Re: Feature: 29 Best 3DS eShop Games You Should Get Before They're Gone Forever

BoilerBroJoe

My only hope is that, with the 3DS shop closing, a handful of these may make the jump to Switch. It's happened before, though rarely (still waiting for the WiiWare ReBirth Series...). Attack of the Friday Monsters is absolutely lovely. I even managed to track down the soundtrack, which is gorgeous and composed by Hideki Sakamoto, who composed Lifelight for SSBU.

Re: Poll: Will Mario Kart 8's Deluxe Booster Course Pass Make You Buy The NSO Expansion Pack?

BoilerBroJoe

I get that's how these subscriptions work, and it's also why I'm not interested. But in all honesty, I think the only reason I hate NSO is because it's locking away their legacy games. If NES/SNES/N64 games were also available to buy for a couple bucks, as well as available to play for free with a subscription, then heck, I'd certainly dive in. I'd use the subscription to play games I'm not interested in owning and I'd still probably buy a small handful of classic games that I want to have as long as my Switch works. But as it stands, I DON'T want to subscribe because doing so is supporting the ransom of their back catalog.

When I want to watch a movie, I stream it. When I want to OWN a movie, I buy it. And thankfully I don't need to own three generations of proprietary DVD players from every major film studio to legally own their most celebrated films. So why is it okay for video games?

Re: Feature: 16 Tracks That Need To Be In The Mario Kart 8 DLC

BoilerBroJoe

@mandlecreed Agreed. Mario Kart 7 has the best of all the Rainbow Road themes, for its callback but also its original parts and its variation between the two sections of the track. They don't need to do much to the theme except polish up the sound quality. And the track is pretty great too.